HEREFORD head coach Scott Sturdy praised his side for a ‘much-improved performance’ despite falling a 0-6 defeat at Wyeside against Cheltenham.

After a first half when a pointless draw looked likely, the visitors took their opportunities and kicked a couple of penalties before surviving a last ten-minute barrage from Hereford.

“Another tough day at the office, but with a much-improved performance,” said Sturdy.

“The two teams went hammer and tongs at each other. With two strong defences and some exciting attacking players on show, you would normally think a 0-6 game would be boring, but not so, it was anything but that.

“Cheltenham had two players yellow carded and we may ask how did we not get over the line, but it was a very good performance and much improved from the Ledbury game.

“We’re in a tough spot at the moment, but the lads are working hard and showing grit. We are getting better and just need the bounce of the ball or a little bit of luck to push us forward and get that first result. We won’t give up; we’ll work hard and we’ll get there.”

Hereford pushed early into Cheltenham territory, but were constantly frustrated by conceding a succession of penalties.

As the game developed into kicking tennis, Iwan Holder and Joe Vaughan kept the Wyesiders in good field position.

Several penalties, this time in favour of Hereford were kicked to touch, but the catch and drive were, on each occasion, defended successfully by Cheltenham.

Ollie Hutcheson, Cal Duncan and Luke Yarranton were securing good ball in the lineout and later in the half, when the ball was released to the backs, some promising movements started well, but never had the cutting edge to make a break through.

At the interval the score remained at 0-0 with both defences capable of dealing with any attacking threat.

From the restart Cheltenham put their first serious pressure on the Hereford defence which dealt with it well.

The deadlock was broken when Curtis Neal landed a brace of penalty goals for Cheltenham.

As the half proceeded, Hereford started to make promising breaks into the Cheltenham 22, Steph Dyers and Josh Wright were their lively selves and Mark Philo added some experience.

A Dyers jinking run took play close to the Cheltenham goal line and a series of penalties, lineouts and scrums kept Hereford there for the 15 minutes up to the final whistle.

The Wyesiders put everything into the last minutes, they did get over the line, but the referee judged the ball to be held up and the final score remained at 0-6.

The 1870s travelled to Upton on Severn and had a difficult afternoon losing 28-13 to a much heavier team, who used their strength to advantage in the final 20 minutes.

Rhys Proctor and Harvey Vaughan scored tries and Dean Powell kicked a penalty goal.